Austin Dopp EcoFoil BUF™

With 2017 in the rearview mirror, we head into a New Year. It seems every New Year brings about some sort of unknown information about the 365 days ahead. For some, choosing to sit back and let whatever happens happen, is more than okay. Others like to have a plan for nearly anything and everything that potentially could happen. I tend to fit into both of the aforementioned categories, but this New Year, I know one thing is true. I have been researching energy saving tips everywhere.

At the beginning of last month my family and I moved to a different home. While this home is 25 years older than our previous home, it does offer some things that living in the city cannot. For example, nearly two acres of land, a larger garage and a nice shed outdoors for more storage. The main reason I spent time researching energy saving tips is that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep our bills low, especially with the cold Iowa winter upon us. You may be asking yourself, what kind of research did you find and what are you going to do? My answers are below.

5 Helpful Energy Saving Tips

I went out and bought new motion sensor light switches for our home. From time to time, occupants of my household forget to turn off a light when they exit a room. This will no longer be a problem. The switches automatically turn the lights on when you enter the room and off when you leave. They also pick up on the amount of light in the room and will not turn on a light if there is already enough light in the room. Very cool product that works very well so far!

By making the switch to a programmable thermostat that can even be controlled when away from the home, more
energy will be saved. The new thermostat comes with a downloadable app for my iPhone and has a learn mode that will get to know how our family uses our furnace. One neat feature I like is the Home/Away feature which recognizes when we are away from the home and automatically turns down the temperature. Did you know that turning your thermostat back 7-10 degrees for 8 hours a day can save you up to 10% annually on heating and cooling bills?

Replacing all of our old light bulbs with new energy star rated LED bulbs was next on the list. Not only do we have a brighter light, we also know we are saving money and that is the beauty of it.

We have recently implemented this next change and it seems to be doing well for our family. Any place in our home where electronic devices are, now get plugged into a power strip. When the devices are not in use, the power strip is turned off. Research states this can save up to $100 annually.

Finally, I have added more insulation to my home attic, using a perforated radiant barrier. I have also used reflectivebubble insulation in my garage which has done a tremendous job in reflecting radiant heat back into our home, where it belongs. This is very important as we have had several below zero degree days with wind chill factors nearing negative 40 degrees. On this kind of day, keeping 96% of radiant heat inside our home is of tremendous importance!

Best Practices for Energy Saving

There are several ways in which a home or business owner can go about saving energy. The best practice for doing so is to do research on the topic. Find out what products are on the market and how they can help in terms of saving energy. For larger projects, such as replacing windows, doors, etc., contacting your local energy company can be beneficial as they may have certain rebates that you can qualify for.

If you have any questions about this blog post or about EcoFoil in general, please feel free to give us a call at (888) 349 -3645 or send us an email to customerservice@ecofoil.com! We look forward to hearing from you.

Shop Foil Insulation

About Us

This blog explores creative ideas and projects related to reflective foil insulation. We work to test the theories and consider the various applications for this innovative green building material. Shop EcoFoil to find a wide range of radiant barrier and bubble insulation products that reduce energy consumption in residential, commercial, agricultural buildings.